LOG: Hatching Part 1
Date: Late night, Day 25/26 of Month 12, Turn 17
Location: Candidate Barracks, High Reaches Weyr
Synopsis: Candidates fret about the non-hatching eggs.
Candidate Quarters, High Reaches Weyr(#286RAJ)
Two caverns lead one right into the other from a hallway just off the Common Room. Taking advantage of the high, vaulted ceiling, bunk beds march in four neat rows of five beds each allowing up to forty people to sleep in one cavern. Functional and spartan in atmosphere, there's little in the way of decoration here, just the one tapestry depicting a hatching on the wall of the first cavern and eggs on the sands in the second.
Each bunk is made up when there are candidates in residence, with standard sheeting, gray woollen blankets and somewhat lumpy pillows. A trunk stands at both the head and foot of the bunks, providing a little space for the occupants to store their belongings while the wait for the eggs to hatch. The archway between the two spaces is covered over with a hide hanging, easily hooked back when both caverns are in use, but tacked into place when only the first is needed. A proper wooden door closes out noise and drafts from the hallway.
Excitement and tension has been winding through the barracks, through the candidates in general, all day: word is out that today is probably the day, yet the day has passed, finished, and theoretically, everyone is supposed to be winding down for bed. Excitement is turning to concern. For some, anyway. Kasadel is one of those who /seems/ to be utterly unphased by the whole thing; currently, he lounges upon his top bunk as if without a care in the world, pencil hovering over a scrap of hide that, ostensibly, he is writing on.
"It's exactly the same thing," Eila's explaining, patiently, to another girl sitting on her cot, ticking off on her fingers, "You have to feed them, they can't go anywhere without assistance, and they like hearing stories. Well, the aunties like /telling/ stories more than hearing them, but nursery duty and helping with the uncles? Really. Same skills involved. Drool on both counts, too," and then the once-trader is lounging back on her pillow, casting a frown now and then over towards the door, as though expecting... well. Something. Anything.
Paxim is laying on his back, one arm folded behind his head. The other is tossing a ball up into the air over his head and catching it deftly, a grimace on his face. His robe lays across the foot of his cot, but it is untouched. It's been there for a couple days now, despite a few digs from the more skeptical of his fellows. This doesn't stop him, though, and while his face looks relatively calm, one so astute might notice he's been on his cot with that ball for hours.
Her choice of robe has been crisply folded on one of her trunks for a while now, mended, washed, and then left there. Much of Sunni's day has been spent as she's doing now -- namely, reading from one of the handful of books she's borrowed from the records room. Seated upright on her cot, she periodically puts the book down to take notes in her journal, her bland expression betraying nothing. Just another day, or so that's how she's appearing to take it.
At length, Kasadel rolls over, his pencil dropped onto the cot's surface as he shifts to look around at the rest of the barracks. "You might as well be talking about baby dragons, too, Eila," he calls across. "From what I hear, anyway. Y'reckon the're /actually/ going to hatch today - tonight - or is it just some exquisite torture designed to..." He trails off, words not quite coming clear. "Still not nervous. Just. Impatient."
At her name, Eila turns slate-blue eyes towards Kasadel, and then her mouth quirks into a small smile. "Suppose I could, couldn't I?" The slim girl next to her titters, lifting a hand to her mouth, though she offers nothing to the conversation; the nanny, with a brief glance towards Tigia, stretches out her arms, clasping fingers behind her head and chuckling lightly. "Sure. Still not nervous. We all believe you, Kas." Mm-hmm.
Paxim overshoots and misses his ball, rolling to catch it but instead only changing it's direction so that it soars towards Eila's friend. Grumbling, he sits up and scowls at the girl like it might be her fault he missed. "Of course it's just torture. Hasn't the whole thing been torture? They could have gotten the same out of us with our own rooms. Can't even seperate us, it's not civilized, you know. But I don't know why I'd expect civilized out of these folks anyways." Sniffing, he rises to his feet and hulks across the barracks for his ball. "They're just trying to drive us mad. I bet it's so we'll be so addled we won't even run away when the hatchlings start eating us. I bet that's what happens. They eat until they're round in the middle and too sated to know better and then the ones who managed to escape move in and Impress them."
More notes taken, at least until the talking starts and Sunniva is forced to look up from her work. "Actually, I believe it is more to build a sense of cameraderie amongst us," is casually, softly intoned for Paxim's complaints. "If we are all to fly together someday, then we ought to at least be familiar with each other." A shoulder rolls, green eyes dropping to her book, "And if we do not Impress, then we have all learned something from the process. And-" her mouth presses into a line "-I hardly think the dragons would get that much of a meal of any of us, unless you just stand there like a dull wherry and /let/ them."
"I'm not!" swears Kasadel, hackles raised - the young teenager seems liable to swear this until he's blue in the face. He might even believe it. He might also have said more, but Paxim's ball goes flying, and catches his gaze, and instead he pauses to listen to his words instead. "Right. That's what we're here for: feed for the hatchlings. /I/ don't mind sleeping near the girls." Those long eyelashes of his flutter; a few of the girls, now paying attention, titter. His words come just after Sunniva's, and belatedly, he nods in her direction, approvingly. "Anyway. What Sunniva said."
Tigia ducks, clumsily, with a flailing of hands and a pitiful wail while the ball glances harmlessly off Eila's raised arm. The nanny sighs, heavily, eyeing the other girl, and gently retrieves and lobs the projectile back towards Paxim with a faintly chastising, "Watch where you're hucking that, would you?" For the speculation on dragon-food and such, she's just got a vaguely amused sort of glance about the room: "You're not serious, are you?" Thank you, Sunniva, voice of reason. "Learn to dodge," is Eila's advice.
Paxim makes a few gagging noises in Kasadel's direction. "Girls are foul. Except Sunniva. She's quite lovely." He sketches a polite bow to the holder girl. "Well, you won't catch me standing there like a wherry anyways. I'm going to find myself a nice fat dumpling to stick behind and hope the dragons gnaw on him." He looks up and down at the other candidates and shrugs. "You're likely right though. Most of us are so skinny we wouldn't make a proper meal to begin with. That's why they got so many of us. So the dragons would have plenty to eat and still someone left over to Impress to." He reaches up and snatches his ball when Eila throws it, simply shrugging for the chastising.
Paxim's bow earns him a gracious tip of Sunniva's head, though the amused line of her mouth takes away any sense of it just being a polite reciprocation. "Why, thank you, Paxim. How kind of you." So much for studying. The book is closed, set aside, while the journal and stylus are left out. There's a look to Eila, then Kas, then a sudden grin, "Just learn to duck better than C'mryn and you ought to be fine. And, honestly, if that were the case, then don't you think that Malsaeth would have sampled a few of us in advance to make sure we were suitable? It would be a shock if you did not give one indigestion, Paxim."
"All the more girls for me, then," smirks Kasadel, shifting again so that he's leaning back on his pillow, but still able to view most of the barracks from the height of his top bunk. "There're a few of us who've stood before, anyway. And heaps of weyrbred types. Why would they stand, Paxim, is there was that kind of risk? You're just being stupid. Or teasing us. whatever." The tall boy sighs, adding, "I'm not seeing any sleep tonight, are you?"
Paxim lifts his chin loftily, "I aim for indigestion, dear Sunni." And with a gesture that is completely out of character, he winks at her. It looks incongruous with the natural scowl of his face. The ball is tucked into his pocket. "You may have /all/ of the girls, Kasadel. But only if I can have you when they're done." Slumping back onto his cot, he shakes his head, "No, I think sleep is a foregone event. And my stomach is starting to wish for food."
"Clearly." A soft laugh escapes her despite herself at that wink, Sunni just shaking her head a bit as she stretches her legs out in front of her on her cot and then laces her fingers across her stomach. Head tipped back against the wall, she remarks, "No sleep for me, either. Nor food. I cannot possibly eat -- I cannot imagine how you could think of such a thing."
An expression of absolute distaste crosses Kasadel's face at Paxim's words, and for a moment, the boys struggles to put words together to deny the comment. Finally he declares, "Thank you, no. I'll take the girls, and stay well away, if it's all the same to you." Shutting his eyes, he says, "I ate, earlier. Can do without more of that. Might go for a bath, though, before too much longer. Got to do /something/ to keep busy."
Paxim snorts, "I'm having you on, pretty boy. Take a joke." Shrugging, he scuffs his feet on the floor. "I'm not the one thinking of food, it's my stomach. And it certainly has a brain all on it's own." Shaking his head, he rubs one hand over his belly, "Right now, it's thinking of redfruit pies, oh yes, and honey scones."
"A bath." The word is uttered thoughtfully. "That might be a good idea, actually." Not that Sunniva's making any move to get up, not just yet; she's pretty well content to stay where she is. A sidelong look to Paxim is given, her nose crinkling. "Oh, no. Redfruit pies sound lovely, but not now. Oh, I do wish we knew if it really /is/ happening soon or if the dragonhealers were off just a little. Sometimes that happens."
Despite Paxim's reassurance, Kasadel does not look convinced, and turns his gaze away from the other boy, to concentrate on less disturbing faces. "Guess it probably isn't an exact thing," he admits, glancing at Sunniva as he speaks. "Bet we'll all collapse in exhaustion in hours, and be woken up minutes later. Guess those dragons may not have a sleeping schedule like ours."
Paxim shrugs, "I don't see why I should disrupt my schedule when it's probably not going to happen. We'll see what the dragonhealers say in the morning, right?" He glances around at everyone else and tips his head to the side. "I'd probably sleep if everyone else would sleep, but how can anyone sleep with this noise?"
"The hatching /will/ happen," Sunni points out, forehead creasing a little. "And it will disrupt our schedules even more than all of this not-sleeping and not-eating ever will." A glance is tossed to Kas, "Perhaps. It would be just our luck if the clutch were to hatch shortly after we fell asleep. Then we might well be a meal for dragons, passing out on the sands from exhaustion." Then, to Paxim, "How can you sleep normally, with all the snoring that we usually hear at night?"
Paxim shrugs, "Crafter, remember? I sleep in a barracks full of guys who snore like they're sawing down the entire forest at Lemos. (Or is it Nabol? Grr, canon.) Anyways, snoring doesn't bother me, but the lights and the talking and the laughing do. I don't think it would even be possible to sleep on the Sands, not with a hatchling chewing on your leg."
Kasadel rolls his eyes, finally, now, glancing back at Paxim. "You," he says, "complain too much. Live a little. Let go! If you want to sleep, bet there's a spare bed in the resident dorms you can take over, if just for tonight. No one'd let you sleep through the hatching." He shifts, to reach back and puff up his pillow. "Reckon the hatching will force us all awake, after a moment. Too much excitement."
"Another pillow over your head ought to work wonderfully, as well." That being oh-so-helpful from the reclining Sunniva. "I cannot sleep normally /anyway/, so this is not terribly different. Sometimes cider helps, but not for this." A look to Kasadel, "I am sure. And if not, then perhaps we might get an hour or two of sleep before chores." But that's what klah's good for.
Paxim delivers the full force of his glare on Kasadel. "And you're a prat, what's your point?" He swings his legs off the bed restlessly and tells Sunniva in a stage whisper, "Bet he screams like a girl when the dragons start gnawing on folks." And then an eyebrow arches, "Oh right, that'll look great.. Come streaking in late to the hatching because I was off snoozing in the resident's dorm while you aunties sat here gossiping? Lot of good that does me. I think not, I'd rather just stay up."
Kasadel just laughs, too wound up on other matters to take offense, though his expression is - pitying? - towards the other boy. "Bet I survive without a scratch. /With/ my dragon at my side." He smirks at the idea of Paxim arriving late, but responds, instead, to Sunniva, "There's a thought. If they /don't/ hatch, and we have chores in the morning. Eh. They'll be kind, I bet."
Brows arch just a bit at Paxim's assessment. "You say that as if it were a bad thing, Paxim." Sunniva states, a glint of humour in her voice. "Screaming like a girl. How /dreadful/." Then, a bit more generally, "I am sure, more than once, they have had candidates show up late, especially if the hatching is while chores are being done." Back to Kasadel, "So, you think you are going to Impress?" Curious, more than anything.
Paxim just shrugs, "Least this isn't Ista. I heard their hatchings are always dreadfully gorey. If anyone's going to get eaten, it's bound to be there." He glances at his robe. To Sunniva, he replies, "Well, if you're a boy it's dreadful. It's just fine if you're a girl." Discomfited, he toussles up his hair and snorts. "Course he thinks he's going to Impress. Certainly thinks the sun rises and sets on his arse, anyways."
"Wouldn't be manly, to scream like a girl," Kasadel explains, easily, though after Paxim does, making his words repetitive. "I'd never do it - but you are, of course, more than welcome to. Yeah, think I will," he adds, sounding quietly confident, his tone even, deliberately ignoring Paxim. "Do you, Sunniva?"
A slight shake of her head is given at Paxim's latter words and Sunniva forces herself to sit up again, giving up her reclined posture to more easily look at the others. Though, "I do not think Mikhuth would allow his children to eat candidates," is noted. Hands fold in her lap, legs twisting to a side -- cross-legged? Not her. Kas' question gives her a moment's pause, then: "I do not know. If I do, I suppose a green might take a fancy to me, but-" she gestures, indicating the other candidates "-there are a lot of us and I have never had grand luck."
Paxim snorts and proclaims broadly, "Of course you will, Sunniva. I can't imagine any dragon who wouldn't want you. I bet they'll be fighting to Impress you." He lets his chin rest on his fists, looking moody. "We should talk about something different, to get our mind off of things. And Mikhuth would let them eat me. I don't think X'lar finds me high on his list."
"Mikhuth?" asks Kasadel, inclining his head towards Sunniva with some obvious curiosity. "Anyway, can see you with a green, Sunniva, too. For once, Paxim's right, maybe." But only on that point - the young man's eyes roll at the rest of what the other young man has to say, and he shrugs. "What else should we talk about? Was trying to write a letter to my family, earlier, but-- concentration. My mind kept wandering, I guess."
"Mikhuth. He flew Fayre's lifemate at Ista," Sunniva explains, with a quirk of a smile for Paxim. "He is a dear and I scarcely think he or D'kai will let anything terrible happen. Malsaeth, on the other hand ..." But the actual talk of Impression, she just shakes her head a little, allowing only, "Perhaps. But, it is out of our hands, so- best not to think too much on it. But what else-" happens right as Kasadel speaks and she lapses into silence, nodding at him.
Paxim just shrugs, "I don't know. Anything. IT just seems like we're beating this to death. It'll happen or it won't. Well, what about.. what about you, Kasadel, where were you from before you were Searched?" He looks across at the girl and says, "Sunni's sister is a goldrider. I bet Sunni could Impress Gold too, if there was one." But that, of course, is backtracking.
"Malsaeth doesn't seem /too/ bad, just..." But Kasadel breaks off, shrugging again, and runs a hand through his toffee-coloured curls. "From Tillek," he reports, vaguely, though his gaze shifts back to Sunniva, "True enough - if your sister can do it, maybe you could. Maybe your dragon won't be on the sands, 'cause there's a gold somewhere else for you. Would you stand again, if you didn't Impress this time?" He adds, shifting back to that earlier topic, "Came here with the tithe - handyman, for a bit, before I was searched. What about you?"
"Protective," Sunniva interjects helpfully when Kasadel trails off. A sharp look is cast to Paxim, one that is somewhat extended to Kas, "I am not like my sister, either." Matter-of-fact, with her hands lacing tightly in her lap. Her expression is momentarily unreadable, then shrugged off for her to answer the other question. "If another dragon thinks I ought to stand, then I will not decline."
Paxim sniffs, "You don't gotta be like her, I've never met her, but I think you could be a goldrider, too, Sunni." Stubbornly fixed on this, and then he shrugs to Kasadel, "Probably better that you got out, right, with all the trouble going on. Do you think you'll go back, or are you going to stay here if you don't Impress this time?" And then, "Me? Well, I'm from the smithcraft, but I moved up here with my parents when they were assigned to the Weyr. Then I got Searched. But I would do anything not to have to be an apprentice anymore."
Kasadel's head bobs quickly as Sunniva fills in the word for him. "Protective, exactly. Bet he's not so bad when his eggs aren't involved." He cants his head, considering the girl for a time, but does not comment further on her, her sister, or related matters. Instead, he tells Paxim, "Yeah, maybe. No, I'll stay here. Anvori mentioned needing some help, maybe I'd do that. Won't need to, though. Why're you an apprentice if you don't want to be?"
Nor does Sunniva look terribly convinced, mouth pulled to a side. "We shall see." And that's as far as she'll take it, her attention shifting to Paxim as he explains and then a nod to Kasadel. "I am not sure where I will go after, if I do not Impress. Perhaps visit Ista or-" something like that, as sketched out vaguely with a fluttering hand, with her going quiet so there's room for Paxim to speak.
Paxim's mouth pulls painfully to the side. "Didn't have much of a choice, you see. My folks, they're both SmithCrafters, and so nothing would do for them except for me to be one too. But I don't /want/ to be a Smith and I'm tired of them always wanting to control me. I want to grow up, you know. My mother, she has this terrible little green firelizard that always followed me around, spying for her and making me do things I didn't want to do. She'd bite at me if I wasn't doing like she'd said. And the silly thing wasn't smart enough to know when I was done, so if I started doing something else, she'd bite me anyways." Disgusted, he throws himself back on his cot. "I just wish this would be over with though. All this waiting around is bad for a person."
Luttrell tosses back the pillow that was covering his face and pointedly announces. "I can't sleep." He sits up from his top bunk bed and blinks around the room. He obviously must have meant he can't sleep any more, because his snoring was heard up until a few minutes ago when he seemed to shift in his bed.
"'Least you've slept at all," points out Kasadel to Luttrell, from his own top bunk not too far away. "You won't return to Fort, Sunniva?" he asks the girl, curious. "Or-- or is it Mikhuth's that draws you to Ista? Can see why you'd want to Impress," he adds, his head turning back towards Paxim. "Me, I'd just tell 'em I didn't want to do it, but I guess..." He shrugs. "/My/ parents were supposed to come for the hatching. Only my sister in law is having her baby - first grandchild. More important than a youngest son."
Eila finally lifts her head away, again, from some intense discussion with Tigia; presumably over the once-trader's basket of thread as the shorter girl huffs and draws it close. "Well, fine," Eila pronounces, tucking the woven basket next to her press and pointing the other candidate off her cot, "You can use your own red, then." Then she's tracking this new conversation with a twist and turn of her head, offering, "And at least your parents," to Kasadel, presumably, "said they were coming. Even if they're not, any longer. I don't even know where mine are right now."
"Sorry, Luttrell," is called at the other candidate's complaint. Sunniva listens to Paxim with a look that's faintly sympathetic; understanding. Some acknowledging noise escapes her and then she looks over to Kasadel again, "I do not know yet if I will. I do not think I shall, but I did not ever think I would be in a Weyr in my life and yet-" here she is. "D'kai is- well, I promised him I would make it to see the eggs, if I could." And the talk of family visiting? She just goes quiet, looking at her hands.
Paxim glances over at Luttrell in surprise as he emerges from hybernation. "Join the club." A twitch of sympathy for Kasadel and then Eila, "Mine think it's shameful. They're the type who think that once Thread stops falling, there's no use for dragonriders. They say the Weyr has seduced me away. It's a lot of malarkey, of course, but they're shut-ins anyways. I don't need them coming to watch anyways. They'd probably try to scare any dragons away from me and embarass me like they always do." His sour look takes a tighter hold on his face. For Sunniva, "Well, you should come back even if you have to leave for awhile, Sunniva. I mean, if you don't Impress. But I think you will. But if not.. you have to come and see us, right?"
"Not much." Luttrell insists to Kasadel, frowning ever so slightly. "My family I expect wont be coming. My Da is not happy with the fact I said yes to being a candidate. Seeing as I never heard from him, I can bet that he wont be here." He glances at Sunniva upon Paxim's mention of returning and nods in agreement. "Yes, you will have to come and see us, or them, whatever the case may be, I know I will return whenever I can."
"Yeah, but they were /supposed/ to be here," gripes Kasadel, sounding more like a petulant teenager than usual. "Letting me down for the sake of my stupid sister-in-law. It isn't fair. They're proud of me, though, I guess. They don't mind. Wasn't much of a place for me at home, not with so many older brothers." He listens to the others, and though it doesn't appear to mollify his petulance, he does look sympathetic. "Looks like we'll just all have to support each other, right? The weyr's my home, now, anyway. Regardless. You /could/ stay, too, Sunniva. Everyone. No reason not to."
"I guess absentee's better than shameful." Eila acknowledges with a tip of her head towards Paxim, adding as though in defense of her own, "Though they're still on the trail, and all. I guess they'll swing by once they hear, regardless of how it all turns out." For Kasadel's petulance, she's got a low chuckle as she stretches her stout form out on her cot, blinking over towards the lad with some agreement, "It's home, now, whatever happens. At least, for me."
"And this, then, is why they have us all together," Sunniva notes, a funny little curve to her smile. The lack of visiting family, the shared commiseration. The mutual staying-awakeness at this shardsawful hour. Her head lifts. "I have yet to figure out what I am to do. I may stay a while, though, before visiting. And, who knows? Perhaps I will come back, if Ista is ill-suiting. In either case, I am a rider away from visiting if I am not here."
Paxim shrugs, "If this place is our home, then we're all family now. Who cares if our parents aren't proud of us? I think we should be proud of each other, right?" He sits up a little straighter. "Kasadel's right, we're here to support each other." He turns his head and attempts an awkward smile for everyone, though Sunniva gets the best effort of them all. "I hope you'll stay, Sunni. We would all miss you dreadfully, you know."
"And you'll know lots of riders, even if you don't Impress," Kas pipes in, in response to Sunniva, his long legs draping over the edge of his bunk restlessly. "Because we will be. Some of us." He grins at Eila, nodding with some apparent enthusiasm. "Like it here. Home. Don't intend to go back to Tillek, that's for sure." Stiffling a yawn behind his hand, the young man adds, "Family - right."
With a lazy sort of motion, Eila drags one hand across her eyes, and leaves it there as though to shield it from some imaginary light. Or perhaps so she can go back to sleep, who knows? But she does contribute, helpfully, "I'd imagine they'd be pleased to have anyone stay on board. Faranth knows I've few enough skills and I still ended up here. Though it's a bit cold to be a proper home. Home needs fruity drinks and a beach, too."
Luttrell nods with a smile toward Paxim. "Your right Paxim, we have to be proud of each other, and not worry about what others think. Still, it would nice." He adds with a half frown. Laying back down to ralax on his bunk, with his hands proping his head up.
Sitting up turns into a reaching back motion, with Sunni snagging her pillow and tossing it at the foot of the bed. She flops forward with as much ladylike grace as she can muster, elbows on the pillow and cheeks propped up in her palms. She looks at the robe she's already laid out, musing, "Yes, you are right, Kas. And you, too, Paxim. But," in goes a breath and out it goes, in an attempt to relax, "we shall see how the dragons decide. When they decide."
Paxim tells Eila with a hint of jubilation, "When we're all riders, we can go to any beach we want. Who cares if it's a little cold here? We can be /anywhere/ in the time it takes to cough three times, right?" Smugness creeps through his tone. He nods sharply to Luttrell and then tells Sunni, "You shouldn't have anything to worry about, you know. I know you'll Impress. There's a dragon out there for you, I know it." His eyes sweep to Kasadel, as if asking for a backup affirmation to this proclaimation.
"I dunno," says Kas, head shaking. "About heat, I mean. Beaches're nice to look at, but the sand... Kinda like the cold, to be honest. More reason to snuggle up with a pretty girl." He smirks as he said this, clearly at least partially jesting, and pulls himself up to a seated position, his long legs drawn closer. "If they decide. Maybe the eggs're all duds, and that's why we're still waiting. Anyway - yeah," he bobs his head towards Paxim, then Sunniva. "Bet he's right. You'll be first off the sands with one." Pause. "After me, anyway. Unless my bronze wants to be fashionably late, of course."
Eila's suspicious of those repeated affirmations, eyeing Paxim - and subsequently Kasadel - with a wrinkling of her brow. "I wouldn't - not to say you're not going to Impress, Sunniva - be quite so certain of yourselves." She sits forward, propped up on bent elbows, and lifts an eyebrow further, "There's a difference between being supportive family, and terribly cocky, you know."
"You all sound so confident," Sunniva laughs. "And I am sure there is a bronze for you, Kasadel. And if he is the first, then that is a good sign for the rest of the clutch as well -- at least, that is what the aunties say." But she isn't going to indulge in any such considerations, leaving them to be confident optimists while she settles into safe pessimism.
A low hum seems to rise up from the ground itself, or maybe it's the walls and ... doesn't stop. It might even be vaguely disconcerting. Eerie. And it's only getting ... louder? A moment or two later, the door to the Barracks slams open and a breathless and nightgowned Milani appears, hair flying like some crazy banshee. "Up up up!" she exclaims and reaches over to tug a blanket off one of the /sleeping/ Candidates. "Let's go everyone, up and at 'em, the eggs are rocking, robes on please! Line up by the door!"
Paxim shrugs at Sunniva, "Better to be confident than woebegotten, right? And we all know I'm the one Impressing the bronze, Kas, so don't be too gobsmacked when /I/ walk off with a bronze."
"Oh, I'm not cocky," Kasadel assures Eila, sounding as though he means it, more earnest than anything. "Just sure." He seems very well pleased with Sunniva's words, head ducking quickly in her direction as he says, "Oh, I hope so. I'd like to be part of a good--" Then he breaks off. That hum. He looks around, his eyes go wide, and he completely ignores Paxim's statement, something he'd normally never do. Milani gets a blank look for a moment, and then Kas is in motion, all long limbs and edges. He makes a dash for his robe, suddenly looking, for the first time, apprehensive.
A deep, dark silence has settled at High Reaches for the midnight hour, freezing winter winds adding their whispers to the growing shadows. The solitary quiet can raise goosebumps without the help from winter's chill, eerie apparitions of the imagination sending night owls off to bed one by one. A few clouds drift across the clear sky, blotting out the light of both full moons and deepening every shadow. Softly at first, a hum begins in the very heart of the Weyr, growing in intensity with the passing of the clouds and the return of silvery moonlight. Either all the creatures lurking in the darkness have found their voices, or the eggs are hatching...
Hali has been laying in her bed, eyes wide open, trying not to listen (and yet listening all the same). Milani's entrance immediately brings this candidate to her feet. "Humming," she gasps, rushing to the bin to grab her robe. "That sound..."
Paxim turns to look at the busting-open door, his jaw hanging unhinged for a moment. "What?" is all that comes out of his mouth, the sudden hum filling him until his skin and the bones beneath begin to tingle with it. "/Now/? It's the middle of the night, they can't hatch NOW!" But just the same he's up, scrambling for his robe that was there just a second ago.
Luttrell sits up in his bunk, looking around at the walls for several long moments up until Milani appears. Startled he nearlyu falls off his bunk as he scrambles down with no idea what exactly he's doing. Finally he joins the rush of changing from nightware to white robes, struggling to get the twisted garment over his head.
"Oh, for-" and then, it's upon them. Milani is stared at briefly before the words sink in and then- "Oh. Oh!" All conversation is forgotten as Sunniva scrambles to get off her bed, to get her robe, to /change/ -- and Faranth help anyone that gets in her way. The humming is only another distraction, her features screwed up in an expression of concentration. Clothes /off/, robe /on/. Seriously, how hard can that be?
That humming increases and increases again, buzzing in ears, thrumming in veins. Milani gets down to the end of the row of cots and physically shoves one of the bigger, snorier candidates out of bed. "Robe, mister, or you're going to miss it!" she tells him, blithely ignoring the relative lack of clothing on the guy. Then she's sailing back up on through the rows, sing-songing: "Robe, sandals, tie back your hair if it's long! Safety, safety! No hatchlings grabbing hair and remember, slow and steady when you get out there!" She smiles and offers encouragement too as she passes. "Everything'll be fine, just remember what you were told and hang in there!"
Kasadel, looking self-conscious in his white robe, pulling it down further and inadvertently showing his underwear through the white fabric, shuffles down from his bunk and towards Milani and the wall where the candidates are assembling. "Knew sleep was a bad idea," he says, more to himself than anyone else, maybe a little triumphantly, especially as he glances towards those who /have/ been sleeping, and look rather the worse for it, now. He strains on his toes, taller than ever, looking excited. And maybe a little nervous.
Paxim is now frantically diving under his bed, though his robe is clearly sitting at the end of his cot where he left it. He comes out panting and manic with his shoes in his hand. And then he spots his robe and in a flurry he's chucking off his nightclothes and donning the attrocious thing. Backwards, no less. And then he's trying to get his sandals on, on the wrong feet, of course. Finally he gets them on the right feet and his robe turned the right way and he's stumbling into the line.
Eila's suddenly, very suddenly, throwing that arm away from her eyes and rolling from her cot, feet flat on the floor and her hands instinctively reaching for the press at the foot of her bed. She's silent through those sleepy protests and quick to get on that white robe over her head and shod herself in thick-soled sandals.
Sunniva binds her hair back with a length of white ribbon, then slips into the shoes ... and finally breathes a sigh of relief when all of that is accomplished without disaster. She hastens to where the others are, slipping into her place with a shuddery exhalation and a murmured, "Are you ready?" being asked of those nearby. Hands clench and unclench until she forces them to fold together in front of her.
Hali overly fumbles with her shirt and pants as she removes them, the adrenaline and the sleeplessness contributing to her lack of fine motor coordination. Robe goes over her head, and as soon as she's long and white, her shoes are tied on. Then she stands there, unsure of the next action.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Kasadel tells Sunniva, grinning so broadly his face seems destined to split into two. "Good luck, everyone. See you at the end, if I miss you during." Again, he tugs at his robe - this alone seems to be really bothering him. "Stupid dress-thing," he adds, mumbling beneath his breath.
The last of the candidates is rousted out of bed and marched into line, a few still struggling with sandal lacings and whatnot. Milani's got a handful of her nightie in one hand and a glimpse of boots, not laced up might be gotten. The candidates aren't the only ones who wound up rushing. "All right everyone! Stay with your partner and start walking with me, it'll be cold going across the Bowl, but it won't take long, so just ... try not to shiver too much, okay? And good /luck/. I'll see you all after it's over!" She smiles brightly again and turns to lead the way out of the barracks and across the Bowl into the spooky night while that hum keeps going ... and going... and going.
Location: Candidate Barracks, High Reaches Weyr
Synopsis: Candidates fret about the non-hatching eggs.
Candidate Quarters, High Reaches Weyr(#286RAJ)
Two caverns lead one right into the other from a hallway just off the Common Room. Taking advantage of the high, vaulted ceiling, bunk beds march in four neat rows of five beds each allowing up to forty people to sleep in one cavern. Functional and spartan in atmosphere, there's little in the way of decoration here, just the one tapestry depicting a hatching on the wall of the first cavern and eggs on the sands in the second.
Each bunk is made up when there are candidates in residence, with standard sheeting, gray woollen blankets and somewhat lumpy pillows. A trunk stands at both the head and foot of the bunks, providing a little space for the occupants to store their belongings while the wait for the eggs to hatch. The archway between the two spaces is covered over with a hide hanging, easily hooked back when both caverns are in use, but tacked into place when only the first is needed. A proper wooden door closes out noise and drafts from the hallway.
Excitement and tension has been winding through the barracks, through the candidates in general, all day: word is out that today is probably the day, yet the day has passed, finished, and theoretically, everyone is supposed to be winding down for bed. Excitement is turning to concern. For some, anyway. Kasadel is one of those who /seems/ to be utterly unphased by the whole thing; currently, he lounges upon his top bunk as if without a care in the world, pencil hovering over a scrap of hide that, ostensibly, he is writing on.
"It's exactly the same thing," Eila's explaining, patiently, to another girl sitting on her cot, ticking off on her fingers, "You have to feed them, they can't go anywhere without assistance, and they like hearing stories. Well, the aunties like /telling/ stories more than hearing them, but nursery duty and helping with the uncles? Really. Same skills involved. Drool on both counts, too," and then the once-trader is lounging back on her pillow, casting a frown now and then over towards the door, as though expecting... well. Something. Anything.
Paxim is laying on his back, one arm folded behind his head. The other is tossing a ball up into the air over his head and catching it deftly, a grimace on his face. His robe lays across the foot of his cot, but it is untouched. It's been there for a couple days now, despite a few digs from the more skeptical of his fellows. This doesn't stop him, though, and while his face looks relatively calm, one so astute might notice he's been on his cot with that ball for hours.
Her choice of robe has been crisply folded on one of her trunks for a while now, mended, washed, and then left there. Much of Sunni's day has been spent as she's doing now -- namely, reading from one of the handful of books she's borrowed from the records room. Seated upright on her cot, she periodically puts the book down to take notes in her journal, her bland expression betraying nothing. Just another day, or so that's how she's appearing to take it.
At length, Kasadel rolls over, his pencil dropped onto the cot's surface as he shifts to look around at the rest of the barracks. "You might as well be talking about baby dragons, too, Eila," he calls across. "From what I hear, anyway. Y'reckon the're /actually/ going to hatch today - tonight - or is it just some exquisite torture designed to..." He trails off, words not quite coming clear. "Still not nervous. Just. Impatient."
At her name, Eila turns slate-blue eyes towards Kasadel, and then her mouth quirks into a small smile. "Suppose I could, couldn't I?" The slim girl next to her titters, lifting a hand to her mouth, though she offers nothing to the conversation; the nanny, with a brief glance towards Tigia, stretches out her arms, clasping fingers behind her head and chuckling lightly. "Sure. Still not nervous. We all believe you, Kas." Mm-hmm.
Paxim overshoots and misses his ball, rolling to catch it but instead only changing it's direction so that it soars towards Eila's friend. Grumbling, he sits up and scowls at the girl like it might be her fault he missed. "Of course it's just torture. Hasn't the whole thing been torture? They could have gotten the same out of us with our own rooms. Can't even seperate us, it's not civilized, you know. But I don't know why I'd expect civilized out of these folks anyways." Sniffing, he rises to his feet and hulks across the barracks for his ball. "They're just trying to drive us mad. I bet it's so we'll be so addled we won't even run away when the hatchlings start eating us. I bet that's what happens. They eat until they're round in the middle and too sated to know better and then the ones who managed to escape move in and Impress them."
More notes taken, at least until the talking starts and Sunniva is forced to look up from her work. "Actually, I believe it is more to build a sense of cameraderie amongst us," is casually, softly intoned for Paxim's complaints. "If we are all to fly together someday, then we ought to at least be familiar with each other." A shoulder rolls, green eyes dropping to her book, "And if we do not Impress, then we have all learned something from the process. And-" her mouth presses into a line "-I hardly think the dragons would get that much of a meal of any of us, unless you just stand there like a dull wherry and /let/ them."
"I'm not!" swears Kasadel, hackles raised - the young teenager seems liable to swear this until he's blue in the face. He might even believe it. He might also have said more, but Paxim's ball goes flying, and catches his gaze, and instead he pauses to listen to his words instead. "Right. That's what we're here for: feed for the hatchlings. /I/ don't mind sleeping near the girls." Those long eyelashes of his flutter; a few of the girls, now paying attention, titter. His words come just after Sunniva's, and belatedly, he nods in her direction, approvingly. "Anyway. What Sunniva said."
Tigia ducks, clumsily, with a flailing of hands and a pitiful wail while the ball glances harmlessly off Eila's raised arm. The nanny sighs, heavily, eyeing the other girl, and gently retrieves and lobs the projectile back towards Paxim with a faintly chastising, "Watch where you're hucking that, would you?" For the speculation on dragon-food and such, she's just got a vaguely amused sort of glance about the room: "You're not serious, are you?" Thank you, Sunniva, voice of reason. "Learn to dodge," is Eila's advice.
Paxim makes a few gagging noises in Kasadel's direction. "Girls are foul. Except Sunniva. She's quite lovely." He sketches a polite bow to the holder girl. "Well, you won't catch me standing there like a wherry anyways. I'm going to find myself a nice fat dumpling to stick behind and hope the dragons gnaw on him." He looks up and down at the other candidates and shrugs. "You're likely right though. Most of us are so skinny we wouldn't make a proper meal to begin with. That's why they got so many of us. So the dragons would have plenty to eat and still someone left over to Impress to." He reaches up and snatches his ball when Eila throws it, simply shrugging for the chastising.
Paxim's bow earns him a gracious tip of Sunniva's head, though the amused line of her mouth takes away any sense of it just being a polite reciprocation. "Why, thank you, Paxim. How kind of you." So much for studying. The book is closed, set aside, while the journal and stylus are left out. There's a look to Eila, then Kas, then a sudden grin, "Just learn to duck better than C'mryn and you ought to be fine. And, honestly, if that were the case, then don't you think that Malsaeth would have sampled a few of us in advance to make sure we were suitable? It would be a shock if you did not give one indigestion, Paxim."
"All the more girls for me, then," smirks Kasadel, shifting again so that he's leaning back on his pillow, but still able to view most of the barracks from the height of his top bunk. "There're a few of us who've stood before, anyway. And heaps of weyrbred types. Why would they stand, Paxim, is there was that kind of risk? You're just being stupid. Or teasing us. whatever." The tall boy sighs, adding, "I'm not seeing any sleep tonight, are you?"
Paxim lifts his chin loftily, "I aim for indigestion, dear Sunni." And with a gesture that is completely out of character, he winks at her. It looks incongruous with the natural scowl of his face. The ball is tucked into his pocket. "You may have /all/ of the girls, Kasadel. But only if I can have you when they're done." Slumping back onto his cot, he shakes his head, "No, I think sleep is a foregone event. And my stomach is starting to wish for food."
"Clearly." A soft laugh escapes her despite herself at that wink, Sunni just shaking her head a bit as she stretches her legs out in front of her on her cot and then laces her fingers across her stomach. Head tipped back against the wall, she remarks, "No sleep for me, either. Nor food. I cannot possibly eat -- I cannot imagine how you could think of such a thing."
An expression of absolute distaste crosses Kasadel's face at Paxim's words, and for a moment, the boys struggles to put words together to deny the comment. Finally he declares, "Thank you, no. I'll take the girls, and stay well away, if it's all the same to you." Shutting his eyes, he says, "I ate, earlier. Can do without more of that. Might go for a bath, though, before too much longer. Got to do /something/ to keep busy."
Paxim snorts, "I'm having you on, pretty boy. Take a joke." Shrugging, he scuffs his feet on the floor. "I'm not the one thinking of food, it's my stomach. And it certainly has a brain all on it's own." Shaking his head, he rubs one hand over his belly, "Right now, it's thinking of redfruit pies, oh yes, and honey scones."
"A bath." The word is uttered thoughtfully. "That might be a good idea, actually." Not that Sunniva's making any move to get up, not just yet; she's pretty well content to stay where she is. A sidelong look to Paxim is given, her nose crinkling. "Oh, no. Redfruit pies sound lovely, but not now. Oh, I do wish we knew if it really /is/ happening soon or if the dragonhealers were off just a little. Sometimes that happens."
Despite Paxim's reassurance, Kasadel does not look convinced, and turns his gaze away from the other boy, to concentrate on less disturbing faces. "Guess it probably isn't an exact thing," he admits, glancing at Sunniva as he speaks. "Bet we'll all collapse in exhaustion in hours, and be woken up minutes later. Guess those dragons may not have a sleeping schedule like ours."
Paxim shrugs, "I don't see why I should disrupt my schedule when it's probably not going to happen. We'll see what the dragonhealers say in the morning, right?" He glances around at everyone else and tips his head to the side. "I'd probably sleep if everyone else would sleep, but how can anyone sleep with this noise?"
"The hatching /will/ happen," Sunni points out, forehead creasing a little. "And it will disrupt our schedules even more than all of this not-sleeping and not-eating ever will." A glance is tossed to Kas, "Perhaps. It would be just our luck if the clutch were to hatch shortly after we fell asleep. Then we might well be a meal for dragons, passing out on the sands from exhaustion." Then, to Paxim, "How can you sleep normally, with all the snoring that we usually hear at night?"
Paxim shrugs, "Crafter, remember? I sleep in a barracks full of guys who snore like they're sawing down the entire forest at Lemos. (Or is it Nabol? Grr, canon.) Anyways, snoring doesn't bother me, but the lights and the talking and the laughing do. I don't think it would even be possible to sleep on the Sands, not with a hatchling chewing on your leg."
Kasadel rolls his eyes, finally, now, glancing back at Paxim. "You," he says, "complain too much. Live a little. Let go! If you want to sleep, bet there's a spare bed in the resident dorms you can take over, if just for tonight. No one'd let you sleep through the hatching." He shifts, to reach back and puff up his pillow. "Reckon the hatching will force us all awake, after a moment. Too much excitement."
"Another pillow over your head ought to work wonderfully, as well." That being oh-so-helpful from the reclining Sunniva. "I cannot sleep normally /anyway/, so this is not terribly different. Sometimes cider helps, but not for this." A look to Kasadel, "I am sure. And if not, then perhaps we might get an hour or two of sleep before chores." But that's what klah's good for.
Paxim delivers the full force of his glare on Kasadel. "And you're a prat, what's your point?" He swings his legs off the bed restlessly and tells Sunniva in a stage whisper, "Bet he screams like a girl when the dragons start gnawing on folks." And then an eyebrow arches, "Oh right, that'll look great.. Come streaking in late to the hatching because I was off snoozing in the resident's dorm while you aunties sat here gossiping? Lot of good that does me. I think not, I'd rather just stay up."
Kasadel just laughs, too wound up on other matters to take offense, though his expression is - pitying? - towards the other boy. "Bet I survive without a scratch. /With/ my dragon at my side." He smirks at the idea of Paxim arriving late, but responds, instead, to Sunniva, "There's a thought. If they /don't/ hatch, and we have chores in the morning. Eh. They'll be kind, I bet."
Brows arch just a bit at Paxim's assessment. "You say that as if it were a bad thing, Paxim." Sunniva states, a glint of humour in her voice. "Screaming like a girl. How /dreadful/." Then, a bit more generally, "I am sure, more than once, they have had candidates show up late, especially if the hatching is while chores are being done." Back to Kasadel, "So, you think you are going to Impress?" Curious, more than anything.
Paxim just shrugs, "Least this isn't Ista. I heard their hatchings are always dreadfully gorey. If anyone's going to get eaten, it's bound to be there." He glances at his robe. To Sunniva, he replies, "Well, if you're a boy it's dreadful. It's just fine if you're a girl." Discomfited, he toussles up his hair and snorts. "Course he thinks he's going to Impress. Certainly thinks the sun rises and sets on his arse, anyways."
"Wouldn't be manly, to scream like a girl," Kasadel explains, easily, though after Paxim does, making his words repetitive. "I'd never do it - but you are, of course, more than welcome to. Yeah, think I will," he adds, sounding quietly confident, his tone even, deliberately ignoring Paxim. "Do you, Sunniva?"
A slight shake of her head is given at Paxim's latter words and Sunniva forces herself to sit up again, giving up her reclined posture to more easily look at the others. Though, "I do not think Mikhuth would allow his children to eat candidates," is noted. Hands fold in her lap, legs twisting to a side -- cross-legged? Not her. Kas' question gives her a moment's pause, then: "I do not know. If I do, I suppose a green might take a fancy to me, but-" she gestures, indicating the other candidates "-there are a lot of us and I have never had grand luck."
Paxim snorts and proclaims broadly, "Of course you will, Sunniva. I can't imagine any dragon who wouldn't want you. I bet they'll be fighting to Impress you." He lets his chin rest on his fists, looking moody. "We should talk about something different, to get our mind off of things. And Mikhuth would let them eat me. I don't think X'lar finds me high on his list."
"Mikhuth?" asks Kasadel, inclining his head towards Sunniva with some obvious curiosity. "Anyway, can see you with a green, Sunniva, too. For once, Paxim's right, maybe." But only on that point - the young man's eyes roll at the rest of what the other young man has to say, and he shrugs. "What else should we talk about? Was trying to write a letter to my family, earlier, but-- concentration. My mind kept wandering, I guess."
"Mikhuth. He flew Fayre's lifemate at Ista," Sunniva explains, with a quirk of a smile for Paxim. "He is a dear and I scarcely think he or D'kai will let anything terrible happen. Malsaeth, on the other hand ..." But the actual talk of Impression, she just shakes her head a little, allowing only, "Perhaps. But, it is out of our hands, so- best not to think too much on it. But what else-" happens right as Kasadel speaks and she lapses into silence, nodding at him.
Paxim just shrugs, "I don't know. Anything. IT just seems like we're beating this to death. It'll happen or it won't. Well, what about.. what about you, Kasadel, where were you from before you were Searched?" He looks across at the girl and says, "Sunni's sister is a goldrider. I bet Sunni could Impress Gold too, if there was one." But that, of course, is backtracking.
"Malsaeth doesn't seem /too/ bad, just..." But Kasadel breaks off, shrugging again, and runs a hand through his toffee-coloured curls. "From Tillek," he reports, vaguely, though his gaze shifts back to Sunniva, "True enough - if your sister can do it, maybe you could. Maybe your dragon won't be on the sands, 'cause there's a gold somewhere else for you. Would you stand again, if you didn't Impress this time?" He adds, shifting back to that earlier topic, "Came here with the tithe - handyman, for a bit, before I was searched. What about you?"
"Protective," Sunniva interjects helpfully when Kasadel trails off. A sharp look is cast to Paxim, one that is somewhat extended to Kas, "I am not like my sister, either." Matter-of-fact, with her hands lacing tightly in her lap. Her expression is momentarily unreadable, then shrugged off for her to answer the other question. "If another dragon thinks I ought to stand, then I will not decline."
Paxim sniffs, "You don't gotta be like her, I've never met her, but I think you could be a goldrider, too, Sunni." Stubbornly fixed on this, and then he shrugs to Kasadel, "Probably better that you got out, right, with all the trouble going on. Do you think you'll go back, or are you going to stay here if you don't Impress this time?" And then, "Me? Well, I'm from the smithcraft, but I moved up here with my parents when they were assigned to the Weyr. Then I got Searched. But I would do anything not to have to be an apprentice anymore."
Kasadel's head bobs quickly as Sunniva fills in the word for him. "Protective, exactly. Bet he's not so bad when his eggs aren't involved." He cants his head, considering the girl for a time, but does not comment further on her, her sister, or related matters. Instead, he tells Paxim, "Yeah, maybe. No, I'll stay here. Anvori mentioned needing some help, maybe I'd do that. Won't need to, though. Why're you an apprentice if you don't want to be?"
Nor does Sunniva look terribly convinced, mouth pulled to a side. "We shall see." And that's as far as she'll take it, her attention shifting to Paxim as he explains and then a nod to Kasadel. "I am not sure where I will go after, if I do not Impress. Perhaps visit Ista or-" something like that, as sketched out vaguely with a fluttering hand, with her going quiet so there's room for Paxim to speak.
Paxim's mouth pulls painfully to the side. "Didn't have much of a choice, you see. My folks, they're both SmithCrafters, and so nothing would do for them except for me to be one too. But I don't /want/ to be a Smith and I'm tired of them always wanting to control me. I want to grow up, you know. My mother, she has this terrible little green firelizard that always followed me around, spying for her and making me do things I didn't want to do. She'd bite at me if I wasn't doing like she'd said. And the silly thing wasn't smart enough to know when I was done, so if I started doing something else, she'd bite me anyways." Disgusted, he throws himself back on his cot. "I just wish this would be over with though. All this waiting around is bad for a person."
Luttrell tosses back the pillow that was covering his face and pointedly announces. "I can't sleep." He sits up from his top bunk bed and blinks around the room. He obviously must have meant he can't sleep any more, because his snoring was heard up until a few minutes ago when he seemed to shift in his bed.
"'Least you've slept at all," points out Kasadel to Luttrell, from his own top bunk not too far away. "You won't return to Fort, Sunniva?" he asks the girl, curious. "Or-- or is it Mikhuth's that draws you to Ista? Can see why you'd want to Impress," he adds, his head turning back towards Paxim. "Me, I'd just tell 'em I didn't want to do it, but I guess..." He shrugs. "/My/ parents were supposed to come for the hatching. Only my sister in law is having her baby - first grandchild. More important than a youngest son."
Eila finally lifts her head away, again, from some intense discussion with Tigia; presumably over the once-trader's basket of thread as the shorter girl huffs and draws it close. "Well, fine," Eila pronounces, tucking the woven basket next to her press and pointing the other candidate off her cot, "You can use your own red, then." Then she's tracking this new conversation with a twist and turn of her head, offering, "And at least your parents," to Kasadel, presumably, "said they were coming. Even if they're not, any longer. I don't even know where mine are right now."
"Sorry, Luttrell," is called at the other candidate's complaint. Sunniva listens to Paxim with a look that's faintly sympathetic; understanding. Some acknowledging noise escapes her and then she looks over to Kasadel again, "I do not know yet if I will. I do not think I shall, but I did not ever think I would be in a Weyr in my life and yet-" here she is. "D'kai is- well, I promised him I would make it to see the eggs, if I could." And the talk of family visiting? She just goes quiet, looking at her hands.
Paxim glances over at Luttrell in surprise as he emerges from hybernation. "Join the club." A twitch of sympathy for Kasadel and then Eila, "Mine think it's shameful. They're the type who think that once Thread stops falling, there's no use for dragonriders. They say the Weyr has seduced me away. It's a lot of malarkey, of course, but they're shut-ins anyways. I don't need them coming to watch anyways. They'd probably try to scare any dragons away from me and embarass me like they always do." His sour look takes a tighter hold on his face. For Sunniva, "Well, you should come back even if you have to leave for awhile, Sunniva. I mean, if you don't Impress. But I think you will. But if not.. you have to come and see us, right?"
"Not much." Luttrell insists to Kasadel, frowning ever so slightly. "My family I expect wont be coming. My Da is not happy with the fact I said yes to being a candidate. Seeing as I never heard from him, I can bet that he wont be here." He glances at Sunniva upon Paxim's mention of returning and nods in agreement. "Yes, you will have to come and see us, or them, whatever the case may be, I know I will return whenever I can."
"Yeah, but they were /supposed/ to be here," gripes Kasadel, sounding more like a petulant teenager than usual. "Letting me down for the sake of my stupid sister-in-law. It isn't fair. They're proud of me, though, I guess. They don't mind. Wasn't much of a place for me at home, not with so many older brothers." He listens to the others, and though it doesn't appear to mollify his petulance, he does look sympathetic. "Looks like we'll just all have to support each other, right? The weyr's my home, now, anyway. Regardless. You /could/ stay, too, Sunniva. Everyone. No reason not to."
"I guess absentee's better than shameful." Eila acknowledges with a tip of her head towards Paxim, adding as though in defense of her own, "Though they're still on the trail, and all. I guess they'll swing by once they hear, regardless of how it all turns out." For Kasadel's petulance, she's got a low chuckle as she stretches her stout form out on her cot, blinking over towards the lad with some agreement, "It's home, now, whatever happens. At least, for me."
"And this, then, is why they have us all together," Sunniva notes, a funny little curve to her smile. The lack of visiting family, the shared commiseration. The mutual staying-awakeness at this shardsawful hour. Her head lifts. "I have yet to figure out what I am to do. I may stay a while, though, before visiting. And, who knows? Perhaps I will come back, if Ista is ill-suiting. In either case, I am a rider away from visiting if I am not here."
Paxim shrugs, "If this place is our home, then we're all family now. Who cares if our parents aren't proud of us? I think we should be proud of each other, right?" He sits up a little straighter. "Kasadel's right, we're here to support each other." He turns his head and attempts an awkward smile for everyone, though Sunniva gets the best effort of them all. "I hope you'll stay, Sunni. We would all miss you dreadfully, you know."
"And you'll know lots of riders, even if you don't Impress," Kas pipes in, in response to Sunniva, his long legs draping over the edge of his bunk restlessly. "Because we will be. Some of us." He grins at Eila, nodding with some apparent enthusiasm. "Like it here. Home. Don't intend to go back to Tillek, that's for sure." Stiffling a yawn behind his hand, the young man adds, "Family - right."
With a lazy sort of motion, Eila drags one hand across her eyes, and leaves it there as though to shield it from some imaginary light. Or perhaps so she can go back to sleep, who knows? But she does contribute, helpfully, "I'd imagine they'd be pleased to have anyone stay on board. Faranth knows I've few enough skills and I still ended up here. Though it's a bit cold to be a proper home. Home needs fruity drinks and a beach, too."
Luttrell nods with a smile toward Paxim. "Your right Paxim, we have to be proud of each other, and not worry about what others think. Still, it would nice." He adds with a half frown. Laying back down to ralax on his bunk, with his hands proping his head up.
Sitting up turns into a reaching back motion, with Sunni snagging her pillow and tossing it at the foot of the bed. She flops forward with as much ladylike grace as she can muster, elbows on the pillow and cheeks propped up in her palms. She looks at the robe she's already laid out, musing, "Yes, you are right, Kas. And you, too, Paxim. But," in goes a breath and out it goes, in an attempt to relax, "we shall see how the dragons decide. When they decide."
Paxim tells Eila with a hint of jubilation, "When we're all riders, we can go to any beach we want. Who cares if it's a little cold here? We can be /anywhere/ in the time it takes to cough three times, right?" Smugness creeps through his tone. He nods sharply to Luttrell and then tells Sunni, "You shouldn't have anything to worry about, you know. I know you'll Impress. There's a dragon out there for you, I know it." His eyes sweep to Kasadel, as if asking for a backup affirmation to this proclaimation.
"I dunno," says Kas, head shaking. "About heat, I mean. Beaches're nice to look at, but the sand... Kinda like the cold, to be honest. More reason to snuggle up with a pretty girl." He smirks as he said this, clearly at least partially jesting, and pulls himself up to a seated position, his long legs drawn closer. "If they decide. Maybe the eggs're all duds, and that's why we're still waiting. Anyway - yeah," he bobs his head towards Paxim, then Sunniva. "Bet he's right. You'll be first off the sands with one." Pause. "After me, anyway. Unless my bronze wants to be fashionably late, of course."
Eila's suspicious of those repeated affirmations, eyeing Paxim - and subsequently Kasadel - with a wrinkling of her brow. "I wouldn't - not to say you're not going to Impress, Sunniva - be quite so certain of yourselves." She sits forward, propped up on bent elbows, and lifts an eyebrow further, "There's a difference between being supportive family, and terribly cocky, you know."
"You all sound so confident," Sunniva laughs. "And I am sure there is a bronze for you, Kasadel. And if he is the first, then that is a good sign for the rest of the clutch as well -- at least, that is what the aunties say." But she isn't going to indulge in any such considerations, leaving them to be confident optimists while she settles into safe pessimism.
A low hum seems to rise up from the ground itself, or maybe it's the walls and ... doesn't stop. It might even be vaguely disconcerting. Eerie. And it's only getting ... louder? A moment or two later, the door to the Barracks slams open and a breathless and nightgowned Milani appears, hair flying like some crazy banshee. "Up up up!" she exclaims and reaches over to tug a blanket off one of the /sleeping/ Candidates. "Let's go everyone, up and at 'em, the eggs are rocking, robes on please! Line up by the door!"
Paxim shrugs at Sunniva, "Better to be confident than woebegotten, right? And we all know I'm the one Impressing the bronze, Kas, so don't be too gobsmacked when /I/ walk off with a bronze."
"Oh, I'm not cocky," Kasadel assures Eila, sounding as though he means it, more earnest than anything. "Just sure." He seems very well pleased with Sunniva's words, head ducking quickly in her direction as he says, "Oh, I hope so. I'd like to be part of a good--" Then he breaks off. That hum. He looks around, his eyes go wide, and he completely ignores Paxim's statement, something he'd normally never do. Milani gets a blank look for a moment, and then Kas is in motion, all long limbs and edges. He makes a dash for his robe, suddenly looking, for the first time, apprehensive.
A deep, dark silence has settled at High Reaches for the midnight hour, freezing winter winds adding their whispers to the growing shadows. The solitary quiet can raise goosebumps without the help from winter's chill, eerie apparitions of the imagination sending night owls off to bed one by one. A few clouds drift across the clear sky, blotting out the light of both full moons and deepening every shadow. Softly at first, a hum begins in the very heart of the Weyr, growing in intensity with the passing of the clouds and the return of silvery moonlight. Either all the creatures lurking in the darkness have found their voices, or the eggs are hatching...
Hali has been laying in her bed, eyes wide open, trying not to listen (and yet listening all the same). Milani's entrance immediately brings this candidate to her feet. "Humming," she gasps, rushing to the bin to grab her robe. "That sound..."
Paxim turns to look at the busting-open door, his jaw hanging unhinged for a moment. "What?" is all that comes out of his mouth, the sudden hum filling him until his skin and the bones beneath begin to tingle with it. "/Now/? It's the middle of the night, they can't hatch NOW!" But just the same he's up, scrambling for his robe that was there just a second ago.
Luttrell sits up in his bunk, looking around at the walls for several long moments up until Milani appears. Startled he nearlyu falls off his bunk as he scrambles down with no idea what exactly he's doing. Finally he joins the rush of changing from nightware to white robes, struggling to get the twisted garment over his head.
"Oh, for-" and then, it's upon them. Milani is stared at briefly before the words sink in and then- "Oh. Oh!" All conversation is forgotten as Sunniva scrambles to get off her bed, to get her robe, to /change/ -- and Faranth help anyone that gets in her way. The humming is only another distraction, her features screwed up in an expression of concentration. Clothes /off/, robe /on/. Seriously, how hard can that be?
That humming increases and increases again, buzzing in ears, thrumming in veins. Milani gets down to the end of the row of cots and physically shoves one of the bigger, snorier candidates out of bed. "Robe, mister, or you're going to miss it!" she tells him, blithely ignoring the relative lack of clothing on the guy. Then she's sailing back up on through the rows, sing-songing: "Robe, sandals, tie back your hair if it's long! Safety, safety! No hatchlings grabbing hair and remember, slow and steady when you get out there!" She smiles and offers encouragement too as she passes. "Everything'll be fine, just remember what you were told and hang in there!"
Kasadel, looking self-conscious in his white robe, pulling it down further and inadvertently showing his underwear through the white fabric, shuffles down from his bunk and towards Milani and the wall where the candidates are assembling. "Knew sleep was a bad idea," he says, more to himself than anyone else, maybe a little triumphantly, especially as he glances towards those who /have/ been sleeping, and look rather the worse for it, now. He strains on his toes, taller than ever, looking excited. And maybe a little nervous.
Paxim is now frantically diving under his bed, though his robe is clearly sitting at the end of his cot where he left it. He comes out panting and manic with his shoes in his hand. And then he spots his robe and in a flurry he's chucking off his nightclothes and donning the attrocious thing. Backwards, no less. And then he's trying to get his sandals on, on the wrong feet, of course. Finally he gets them on the right feet and his robe turned the right way and he's stumbling into the line.
Eila's suddenly, very suddenly, throwing that arm away from her eyes and rolling from her cot, feet flat on the floor and her hands instinctively reaching for the press at the foot of her bed. She's silent through those sleepy protests and quick to get on that white robe over her head and shod herself in thick-soled sandals.
Sunniva binds her hair back with a length of white ribbon, then slips into the shoes ... and finally breathes a sigh of relief when all of that is accomplished without disaster. She hastens to where the others are, slipping into her place with a shuddery exhalation and a murmured, "Are you ready?" being asked of those nearby. Hands clench and unclench until she forces them to fold together in front of her.
Hali overly fumbles with her shirt and pants as she removes them, the adrenaline and the sleeplessness contributing to her lack of fine motor coordination. Robe goes over her head, and as soon as she's long and white, her shoes are tied on. Then she stands there, unsure of the next action.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Kasadel tells Sunniva, grinning so broadly his face seems destined to split into two. "Good luck, everyone. See you at the end, if I miss you during." Again, he tugs at his robe - this alone seems to be really bothering him. "Stupid dress-thing," he adds, mumbling beneath his breath.
The last of the candidates is rousted out of bed and marched into line, a few still struggling with sandal lacings and whatnot. Milani's got a handful of her nightie in one hand and a glimpse of boots, not laced up might be gotten. The candidates aren't the only ones who wound up rushing. "All right everyone! Stay with your partner and start walking with me, it'll be cold going across the Bowl, but it won't take long, so just ... try not to shiver too much, okay? And good /luck/. I'll see you all after it's over!" She smiles brightly again and turns to lead the way out of the barracks and across the Bowl into the spooky night while that hum keeps going ... and going... and going.